From the Roots of Her Hair
by Rebel Song
Summary: Rapunzel prepares to leave her tower for the first time.


Rapunzel stares into his doubting eyes, her eyes narrowed. She feels Pascal tense on her shoulder as he glares too. Flynn continues his uninterested stare, eyes switching between her and the chameleon. Finally, he sighs, rolls his eyes, and says "Fine! I'll take you to see the lanterns!"

Her heart lifts out of her chest and she feels like breaking into song. "Really?" she gasps as she takes her hand off the chair, sending him crashing to the ground, face-first. "Oops..."

"You broke my smolder," Flynn groans softly.

Rapunzel winces and grabs her hair again. She yanks and the chair flies upright again.

Flynn winces. "Blondie, how many more times are you going to _do_ that?" It is an exasperated question, not an angry one.

She begins walking in tight circles around the chair, heaping her hair onto her arms as she goes. "Not many more times!" She comes to a stop directly behind the chair and smiles, letting out a sigh. "Phew." Rapunzel drops her hair and puts her hands on her hips. Flynn rises from the chair and saunters over to the window. He idly scratches the back of his neck. "All right, now Mother normally takes a few days' worth of food with her whenever she leaves, so we'll need food and I'll need a travelling cloak – oh, Mother took hers and I don't have one, I guess I could make one out of my blanket but – oh no, then I would just look ridiculous! And Mother always takes her lantern with her… I should probably pick some candles to bring –"

"Blondie!"

Rapunzel grinds to a halt at the foot of the stairs, hand on the rail. Flynn's still staring out the window, hand on the back of his neck. His right hand is on his hip and Rapunzel silently studies the contours of his back. It _would_ be interesting to have a _male_ to paint – she'd only ever painted herself and Mother (and Pascal, of course) before. When she returned the day after next, she'd make Flynn stand still so she could paint him. And _then_ she'd return his satchel.

"You don't need to bring anything. It should take us barely a day to get there. We'll be in the kingdom by morning and then you can see your _lanterns_ tomorrow night and then you'll give me back my satchel. Which would be very useful to have right now, by the way…" He turns and leans to the side, looking under the table and frowning.

Rapunzel crosses her arms across her chest and looks at Pascal. He shrugs.

"_And…_" Flynn continues, "if we _do_ need anything, we can always… _borrow_ it."

"How do we _borrow_ food?" Rapunzel puts her hands on her hips and watches Flynn open and close all the kitchen cabinets.

"You'll see." He turns on his heel and leans against the table. He crosses his feet and smirks at her from across the room. She cocks her eyebrow at him and he throws his hands up and scoffs. Rapunzel smirks and holds her hand out for Pascal, who scurries down her arm and waits impatiently in her palm. She walks lightly over to the window and the chameleon jumps off her hand onto the windowsill. He looks up at her, excited.

Suddenly Flynn's at her side and she jumps, letting out a squeak. Frantically, she searches for her frying pan and finds it, four feet away. Rapunzel scampers over to it, scoops it up by the handle and whips it into position next to her head. She's panting and Flynn's looking at her with an "oh… really?" look on his face. She giggles nervously and tucks the pan underneath her arm.

"I suppose I shouldn't do that again?" He's already halfway out the window, determined to not get hit over the head a third time.

"Probably not," Rapunzel smiles, shrugging her shoulders, cheeks flushing pink.

Pascal chirps angrily as Flynn swings out the window, feet sweeping over the little guy's head. Flynn does an acrobatic twist and then he's hanging from the windowsill by the tips of his fingers. Another second and he disappears from view. Rapunzel makes sure her trusty frying pan is securely tucked beneath her arm, and walks cautiously over to the windowsill.

She pauses at the window, taking one look back into the tower. Her eyes land on the painting she finished this morning, and she takes a deep breath. Her heart's racing and – whoa, she'd never realized just how _tall_ the tower was.

"You comin', Blondie?" Flynn's voice seems further away than it should be, so she cautiously steps out onto the windowsill and peers over the edge. He's already halfway down the wall of the tower, using his arrows to scale the rock. Rapunzel looks up and realizes just how small her world is.

"_Look at the world – so close and I'm halfway to it_," she sings quietly, "_Look at it all _– so big! – _Do I even dare_?" She gazes back at her lantern painting above the mantle and smiles. "_Look at me, there at last! I just have to do it_. Should I?" Rapunzel glances back at the horizon. Her heart races faster and her hands are sweaty and she tightens her grip on the frying pan and Pascal scurries onto her shoulder. "No." She looks back towards the tower, terrified. Her decision is made. "Here I go!"

Pascal ties the end of her hair around his abdomen and gives her a thumbs-up. Rapunzel chuckles. She throws her hair around the hook as she has many times before, only this time, she secures the end of her hair instead of letting it fall down to the ground. She squeezes her hair tightly, and inhales deeply. A running start, and she's free-falling.


End file.
